The Latin name for rock is saxum and as this word traversed my mind, I pondered if stones last forever? Of this I can’t say, but needless to say they never die.
Though, just as humans do, they evolve over time. I wondered what these intricate stone carpets must have witnessed over the passage of centuries.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ grandeur, Caligula’s depravity and savagery, all wrapped in a golden period of history when the unstoppable Roman Empire conquered and covered three continents.
Though on this day there were no legionaries being dispatched to quell an uprising in North Africa. As history will dictate, empires rise and fall, but as I stood on Via del Corso the sense of Rome’s glorious history was palpable. The Italian spring had chilled the air to the perfect temperature as I raised my eyes to consume Rome’s daily theatrical offering.
And what a show. The intricacy and sheer artistry of the architecture was staggering. One wonders what evolutionary sleight of hand allowed such dramatic talent and creativity to confine itself within this country’s borders. Michaelangelo’s deft hand delivering its magic to cover the Sistine Chapel in what can only be described as miraculous, Leonardo da Vinci’s interpretations that to this day have us speculating his subjects secret intent and to speak nothing of Enzo Ferrari and his stylish Rosso cars winning countless races and turning heads the world over.
As I made my way forward, the theatrical onslaught continued. Precisely draped dresses kissed tanned Mediterranean skin as Prada veiled eyes sheltered the gazing Italian sun.
As the road split diagonally I veered to the right. There were fewer people and the tidy storefronts shaded the sidewalk. Two police officers passed by going about their days work. Clad in courtly white accented blue blazers and tailored navy pants they caused me to stop and admire the coolest clad law officers I had ever seen. I actually googled the designer of these uniforms and was not surprised to discover that it was none other than the brilliant fashion genius Giorgio Armani who had penned the design.
Europe dances to its own spectacular beat, but none better than the Italians. And it is not even close.
I continued on and the crowd became thicker with happy springtime sounds filling the air. An alchemical mix of laughter, accented English and Italian. I entered the entrance to my final destination, the famous Piazza Navona. The square was filled with artists and performers with a creative energy diffusing into the surrounding air. I had not taken this journey alone, I was accompanied by my family. As Shabana, Ayaan, Azeem and I browsed the chic boutiques, pangs of hunger invaded our waiting stomachs. We exited the piazza on the right side and spilled into a bustling, vibrant alleyway bordered by restaurants. We were drawn in by a TripAdvisor sign and we settled into a comfortable table for four.
The restaurant was full as we placed our orders. The food in Italy is nothing short of spectacular and this TripAdvisor recommended restaurant did not disappoint. As Shabana raved about her meal, she offered each of us a chance to taste it. As this culinary alchemy thrilled my eager taste receptors, a burgeoning oral symphony played on. As the opening notes of this meal bludgeoned my sensory apparatus, I wondered if my skin started to tingle. The mid to lower notes of this morsel continued the unrelenting orchestral onslaught. At this point I had already determined that this meal was one of the best I had ever tasted.
The simple name of this masterpiece hid its true greatness. Lemon prawn pasta. Needless to say, my always generous wife shared her amazing dish, more than the three of us would have ever done. This lemon prawn pasta left such a mark, that we returned to dine there the next day with the simplest order the waiter had probably ever processed. The aforementioned pasta times four. One wonders what delicacies might early humans have feasted on? Europe’s earliest humans did not use fire for cooking, but had a balanced diet of meat and plants - all eaten raw. Studying dental plaque from a 1.2 million year old hominin (early human species), recovered by the Atapuerca Research Team in 2007 in northern Spain, archaeologists extracted microfossils to find the earliest direct evidence of food ingested by early humans.
These microfossils contained remnants of raw animal flesh, uncooked starch granules indicating grass ingestion, pollen grains from a species of pine, insect pieces, and maybe a toothpick shard. The oldest use of fire for cooking is fiercely debated, with some scholars claiming it began approximately 1.8 million years ago and others claiming it was as late as 300,000-400,000 years ago. In our pursuit of gustatory nirvana, evidence reveals that spices were intentionally added to food in Northern Europe about 6,100 years ago. Garlic mustard seeds were used to infuse a peppery kick.
Cinnamon, the “world’s oldest spice” is an old spice that predates the documented history of all culinary spice usage. As the scent of steak and broccoli flavoured with an Asian sauce, followed by spicy noodles, slowly permeates the air, I conclude this savoury voyage. I sharpen my spear in preparation for a possible meeting with a Sabre tooth tiger on my approach to the kitchen. Wish me luck.
